An interview with Sasha Reuther

An interview with Sasha ReutherBy Patrick SullivanNorthern Express: How did you end up making a film about your family?Sasha Reuther: Obviously, I grew up around the story. Im Victor Reuthersgrandson, so throughout my childhood wed spend holidays together with mygrandfather. We grew up in Washington D.C., so I was only right down thestreet from him and I grew up around these amazing stories of the picketline battles and my grandfather was the international director of theunion so he would travel overseas and he would talk about traveling inJapan and Germany. And of course, he lost an eye in an assassinationattempt, so heres this kind of larger than life character that I grew upwith. ...Then coupled with that, I really was addicted to movies as a kid. I justwatched so many. My mom and I would sit together on the weekends. Even ata young age, I knew I wanted to make that magic happen on the screen, so Iapplied to film school. I got into NYU. ...It was kind of like, I knew I had this story in the back pocket. Like, youknow, someday Ive got to tell the family story.

NE: How long have you been working on this film?Reuther: In film school I at least went down and did a long series ofvideotaped interviews with my grandfather while he was still very sharpand we went through his memoir, he went through each chapter and I hadread the book, but even then it was such a large legacy for me to reallyunderstand all of it. And I said, Papa, ... how about (you) tell me everystory you can think of, and well just talk, so it was very free-hand. ...I graduated in 1998 from NYU, so its been many years since then, but atleast Id taped that and then I moved on to doing other short formatcommercials and music videos and things like that.When my grandfather passed away in 2004, there were two differentmemorials for him, one in Washington and one in Detroit, and there was afascinating collection of his allies that were still around, civil rightsleaders and politicians, and they all came and they were all there andthey were telling these amazing stories.My wife sort of was kicking me, she was saying, I know you really want todo this project. You better get out there and start talking to these guys.And it really started from there. It took a couple of years to get rollingafter my grandfathers memorial, but in 2007 I hired a co-producer, Ihired a cinematographer, and we just got out there, raised a little moneyand started to tape interviews. And the rest is history.

NE: Does it frustrate you that some of the things your family fought for,things that were unheard of at the time, like pensions, automaticretirement ages, and unemployment benefits, became almost taken forgranted and now are disappearing again?Reuther: Of course. On a higher level. Im frustrated by the fact thatmost of my generation (doesnt know anything about the history of unions).Had I not grown up in this family, I would know really generally nothingabout labor history, let alone the Reuthers. Theres not a lot of concretelabor history in the typical high school books. You know, we get a lot ofcivil rights history. We get a lot of Dr. Martin Luther King, which, youknow, no denying how important those legacies are, but we kind of skipover some key elements of labor history and it frustrates me that no oneof my generation could ever recall having a labor leader as their rolemodel. It just doesnt exist. ...I know there are labor leaders out there that are still doing the rightthing and theyve committed their lives just to the welfare of the commonman, and that takes a lot. So these are men and women that are doingheroic things but nobody knows anything about them. Theres kind of like alack of PR. ...I feel saddened because theres such a negative image of unions and itsreally like, theyre the ones that got us in this mess and of coursethats what were going to do, were going to start stripping laborsrights because then maybe we can get back on a solid footing, which Ithink is ridiculous.

NE: Assassins attempted to kill Walter Reuther in 1938 and Victor Reutherin 1949 in much the same way and neither of those cases were solved. Howmuch does that hang over your family? How does your film address thoseincidents?Reuther: Im a couple of generations removed from it. ... I cant say Igrew up much around the next generation of family members, meaning myfather and that level, feeling like we have to get to the bottom of this,just because I kind of feel like the UAW themselves, at that time, madesuch efforts to have their own investigation and how difficult that musthave been. From what Ive read and understood, there wasnt really atremendous amount of cooperation from the FBI. I think there was aninvestigation but maybe not as thorough as possible. I dont think someonelike J. Edgar Hoover was a big fan of Walter in general. ...(My parents) were just kids when the assassination attempt happened, sothey werent really around (to know) who was in Walters circle, who wasin my grandfathers circle. It was a very different time in Detroit andthere were a lot of competing forces and I think that it was a tough town....We do cover this in the film. To be honest, it really wasnt my place topoint a finger at anyone, because I think that the Reuthers had a lot ofenemies at that time.NE: Do you or other family members believe Walter Reuther was assassinated?Reuther: Its hard for me to speak for all the different family members. Ithink in my life, every few years or at different times, Id be curiousabout it and Id hear one extended family member or another bring it upagain and say, you know, they should have done a more thoroughinvestigation of that.My grandfather, even he kind of wavered here and there. Since I spent alot of time studying his memoir, and several other memoirs, I know in hismemoir, which was pretty recent after the crash I think he finished hisbook in 1976, so it wasnt long after that, and in his book he prettyclearly states that it was his feeling that at the time that there wasntenough evidence to call it any kind of conspiracy. ...And Ive read through the National Transportation Safety Board (report),Ive seen their final report that does say that yes there is a strongpossibility that the altimeter was faulty or could have been put in upsidedown, so there are some interesting things there.To keep it short, my general impression was that to have such a nationallyinfluential figure pass away in that kind of an instance, that has alittle bit of a shadow of, OK, we know it was difficult weather, we knowthe runways werent lit as well as certain major runways, and we knew thatit was probably a difficult approach in that kind if weather, but if ithad that one inkling, of, oh, well, its possible that the altimeter wasput in upside down or there was a screw loose, I think that there shouldhave been a followup investigation, just to see. I mean, he was at thelevel of Dr. King or Robert Kennedy, and in that same kind of liberalpower group, and I cant see why there wasnt s little more of a thoroughinvestigation or a followup.

NE: Have you spent much time in Traverse City?Reuther: I have never been to Traverse City before and Im really lookingforward to it. Ive been up to, not to Traverse City, but with the film wespent a lot of time mainly in Detroit, in and around Solidarity House, anda lot of the locations where, sadly, where the former factories used tobe, you know, theyre not really there anymore.But we did spend a lot of time kind of walking in the steps of my elders.And we did take a trip -- Ive been to Black Lake, where the UAW EducationCenter is, many times in my life. I remember going up there as a kid. Itreally is such a beautiful, serene environment up there, but we did go forthe film, with my crew, my co-producer and cinematographer, to take somefootage of that property. We also went to the Pellston Airport, where theplane went down.